Game Development: A play into the process
Are you into video games? Are video games your alibi from the monotonous stressful life? Do you look forward to that part of the day where you can talk with your favorite game characters? If yes, you’re already a part of the video game industry.
We, as players, might not be the one building games, but we absolutely are a crucial part of the industry as the users of those games. But, do you know how rigorous the process of developing a game is? It’s not a play of one man but needs an entire team and their expertise to develop a game.
This article would be dealing with the process and people involved in building a game.
So, let’s play.
GAME DEVELOPMENT
Game development is the process of developing a video game from drafting story, to building characters, creating art, performing audio, setting lighting, and then finally executing the game.
PROCESS
The process of Game Development involves an overlapping of three components: pre-production, production, and post-production.
PRE-PRODUCTION
Pre-production, one of the phases of the process, is the planning. This phase strategically lists out the tasks, timelines, design documents, etc. to start the procedure. The process includes the following aspects, to begin with:
PROVISIONAL CONCEPT
The concept of the game is crucial to start the procedure. Does the concept decide what your game is about? What genre does it lie in? and, What audience does it target?
PITCH
A pitch is created to anchor producers and investors for your game concept. It is a proposal document that pitches the producer that how your game will be profitable.
CONCEPT
Concept document includes firm details of the genre of the game, targeted audience, budget, marketing strategies and the like before the game design is developed.
GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT
As the name suggests, the game design document includes the proposed design of the game which remains throughout the game production.
PROTOTYPE
The prototypes of the gameplay help the developers of the game test their prototypes. It helps the developers check the usability of the algorithms before executing the final version of the game.
PRODUCTION
Production is the main stage of game development. It is when the whole team comes into play and starts detailing the game. It involves the following steps:
DESIGN
The design of a game involves developing content, dialogues, technical expertise, and rules of the games. The design keeps on modifying along with the procedure of game development.
PROGRAMMING
The programmers develop the technical base of the game, fix bugs, and keep updating the program as per the design requisites.
LEVEL CREATION
Creating different levels with increased difficulty and more challenges lies under Level Creation. The programmer sets specific algorithms for specific levels of the game.
ART PRODUCTION
Production of characters, background, textures, lighting, tools, boards, objects, and the like either on 2D or 3D surface come under art production.
AUDIO PRODUCTION
Sound plays an important role in games. Different levels have different sound effects. Audio production is the process of putting disparate sound according to the need of the game.
TESTING
Testing is the final step of the production process where the programmers test the quality of the games before finally launching the game.
POST-PRODUCTION
MAINTENANCE
The game once launched requires maintenance at various time intervals. Maintenance also looks into the remake, sequel, or expansion of the game.
PEOPLE INVOLVED
There is a development team behind every game developed which constitutes of:
DESIGNER
Designers are the catalysts of the game. They vision their expertise in concept, gameplay, rules, and structure of the game.
ARTIST
Images, Interface, UI, UX, textures, visuals, 2D and 3D animation- all come under artist. Artists enhance the design of the game with the help of the above-mentioned components.
PROGRAMMER
The programmer is the engineer of the game. They design the game with the help of AI, UI, graphics, gameplay, game tools, software, and physics.
LEVEL DESIGNER
Level Designers divide the game into different levels as per the competition markings. Level bifurcations differ from game to game as per the design and user interactions.
SOUND ENGINEER
Sound engineers are professionals who work on sound effects, music, voice, and sound positioning in the game.
TESTER
Game testers check the quality of the game, detect software defects and enhance the user experience accordingly.
EXPERT’S WORDS
Golden rule of level design — Finish your first level last.
- John Romero, American video game developer, designer, director, and programmer
You can make an amazing game, but you can’t make a success. Your players make success.
- Irme Jele, co-founder of Bossa Studios
CONCLUSION
In a nutshell, game development is a strenuous process. It is a work of an extensive team and a detailed process. What we get served on our big black screen is the result of the consistent hard work of the team.
Compelling. Isn’t it?
Written By: Ayushi Jain (ayushi@wharfstreetstrategies.com)
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